Prepositions and Temporal Relations
Prepositions are invariant and precede their noun phrase.
Spatial and relational prepositions
| Form | Meaning |
|---|---|
in | in / inside |
pa | on / upon |
ned | under / below; also directional down |
upp | over / above; also directional up |
med | with |
unmed | without |
fra | from |
til | to / toward |
for | for / intended for |
mellom | between |
þur | through |
mot | against / toward opposition |
bak | behind; also directional back |
fram | in front of; also directional forward |
ov | about / concerning / regarding |
Examples:
in husen — in the housemed han — with himfra hem — from homemellom krigaren — between the warsþur husen — through the housebok ov krig — book about warvi sprek ov nordsippisk — we speak about Nordsippisk
ov is not a general possessive of. Possession remains the job of -s.
Direction words
Cardinal directions:
| Form | Meaning |
|---|---|
nord | north |
sudd | south |
ost | east |
vest | west |
Relative directions:
| Form | Meaning |
|---|---|
upp | up |
ned | down |
fram | forward / front |
bak | back / behind |
venst | left |
rett | right |
Some direction words overlap with spatial prepositions. Context and syntactic position distinguish above from up, behind from back, and so on.
Temporal relations
| Form | Meaning |
|---|---|
vor | before |
eft | after |
medan | during / while |
sid | since |
til | until |
The temporal system broadly distinguishes:
vor/eft— orderingsid/til— starting and ending boundariesmedan— temporal containment
Examples:
vor krigen — before the wareft krigen — after the warmedan krigen — during the warsid krigen — since the wartil natt — until night
med and medan are intentionally allowed to feel related: with and during/while.